Entries by emptywheel

Rove and Nixon and Anne Armstrong and the Work Yet to Be Done

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I did a post last year, not long after Dick Cheney shot an old man in the face, tracing the ties between the Armstrong family and Republican corruption. I showed how Anne Armstrong has been present at all the big-name Republican scandals going back to Watergate.Anne Armstrong Event
Associated Republican Scandal
1971-1973
RNC Co-Chair
Watergate
1973-1974
Cabinet-level Counselor to Nixon and Ford
Watergate
1976-1977
Ambassador to the UK

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Sara Taylor Refuses to Agree Tim Griffin Had “Substantial” Experience

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I’m just now catching up on the Sara Taylor non-testimony (the webcast is still available here). And I find her to be interestingly sharp–in that she backs off of some points that the Republicans would like to put in her mouth.

There’s an exchange with Arlen Specter, for example, in which he prods her to say that Tim Griffin was very qualified to replace Bud Cummins (this happens just before and

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The “Embarrassment Privilege”

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We’ve got to start calling these refusals to testify what they are–because they surely aren’t executive privilege. With Sara Taylor’s plea to avoid testifying because she admires–and apparently took a vow to–Bush it’s not executive privilege because she didn’t speak to him about the USA firings. But we might call her refusal to testify the “I love me my Prezident privilege”–because that’s about as serious as the legal discussion behind it

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The False First Amendment of the Dow Jones and AP

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Back when Dow Jones and the AP renewed their bid to unseal the materials relating to Judy’s and Cooper’s subpoenas, they asserted–apparently based on self-serving public comments by Novak, Rove, and Armitage and on Victoria Toensing’s self-declared omniscience in all things Plame–that Fitzgerald’s pursuit of the journalists’ testimony was unnecessary.

Recently, the public learned that the Special Counsel’s pursuit of those reporters was entirely unnecessary for him to determine who had leaked

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Fitzgerald: Not a Runaway Prosecutor, Explained Simply

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I wanted to elaborate on the Armitage post I did earlier, showing that (contrary to the wails of the Libby Lobby), Fitzgerald did not pursue Libby while ignoring the Novak leak. In addition to the inconsistencies in Armitage’s Novak story, in fall 2004, there remained inconsistencies in the Rove Novak story and–I would submit–the Libby Novak story.

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Reggie’s Going to Smile

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If the hapless Democratic Congress ever gets around to an investigation through which they can ask Reggie to turn over the CIA Leak case grand jury materials.

But for now, I’d say he’s still cranky, wouldn’t you?In commuting the defendant’sthirty-month term of incarceration, the President stated that thesentence imposed by this Court was “excessive” and that two years ofsupervised release and a $250,000 alone are a “harsh punishment” for anindividual convicted

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Why the Libby Lobby Story about Armitage Is False

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Let’s pretend, for a second that all the other reasons why the cries of “runaway prosecutor” from the Libby Lobby don’t exist. Set aside the fact that the FBI and then Fitzgerald were investigating all leaks of Valerie Wilson’s identity, not just those to Robert Novak. Set aside the fact that the 1X2X6 story (as well as the clear evidence of at least three leaks by October 12, 2003) didn’t have

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Executive Privilege, RNC Style

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The NYT reports that Sara Taylor will come before the SJC today and testify about some things.

Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, has agreed toanswer some questions as a “willing and cooperative private citizen,”during testimony about the United States attorney firings last yearwhen she appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee later today.

But, as a former presidential adviser, she will also honor thepresident’s invocation of executive privilege to keep quiet

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No More $$ to Shred our Constitution

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Now that I’m in DC, I’m thinking maybe I’ll just stay here until the impeachment. Because things are getting fun. As in, no more taxpayer dollars to help Cheney shred our Constitution.

Senate Democrats movedTuesday to cut off funding for Vice President Dick Cheney’s office in acontinuing battle over whether he must comply with national securitydisclosure rules.

A Senateappropriations panel chaired by Sen.

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“I Don’t Know Enough About It”

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So says Pete Domenici, when asked by Andrea Mitchell whether he would testify before Congress if asked. ThinkProgress points out that a conversation between Rove and Domenici closely preceded David Iglesias’ firing. But I’ll go further, and raise this report.

In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.

Gonzales refused.

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